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Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore. questions Michael Botticelli, deputy director, Office of National Drug Control Policy, as he testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday before the House Government Operations subcommittee hearing to examine the administration's marijuana policy.
(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency chief then went on to criticize her boss's position. And on Tuesday, an official with the Office of National Drug Control Policy, told the House Oversight Committee’s Government Operations subpanel that the Obama administration remains opposed to state-based efforts to legalize pot.

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the subpanel, suggested the president’s attitude may contribute to the growing use of marijuana among adolescents.

"Given the recent statements... the president may, in fact, be a major contributor now to some of the declines we see in the perception of risk" associated with the drug, Mica said. "We’re going from ‘Just say no,’ to ‘I didn’t inhale,’ now it’s 'Just say maybe.’"

Mica added, "We have the most schizophrenic policy I have ever seen."

The Washington Post reports that the Washington, D.C. Council voted Tuesday to "eliminate criminal penalties for possession of marijuana but left smoking it in public a crime."

With an 11 to 1 vote, several council members reversed their previous support for a more far-reaching measure, weakening an effort to join the quarter of U.S. states that have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana.

While they stuck with their plans to drop possession to a civil offense — akin to a parking ticket — council members decided not to decriminalize public smoking. They did, however, reduce the maximum jail sentence from six months to 60 days.

"I do not want the public smoking of marijuana around my kid — I do not," said the council’s chairman, Phil Mendelson (D), raising his voice to press his point. "I do not want to have to somehow rationalize to her why that’s okay . . . and I dare say that I’m not alone as a parent."

City Attorney Bill Kirby presented three options for regulating medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits: do nothing, thereby deferring to state law on registering dispensaries come March; require specific business licenses for medical marijuana facilities, thereby granting the city a bit more control; or prohibit businesses that violate federal law, which would include dispensaries.

Councilors quickly discarded the idea of doing nothing, which left them to hash out the merits of regulating dispensaries within the city or effectively barring them from Beaverton.

Councilor Marc San Soucie said the option of doing nothing was easy for him to eliminate. Deciding on the parameters of how to regulate outlets, however, will be difficult.

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